Delivering genomic data

Life Technologies launches the 5500xl SOLiD Sequencer, an instrument designed to deliver the industry's fastest and most accurate genomic data for cancer biology and genetic disease research.

Developed and manufactured with Hitachi High-Technologies, the 5500xl delivers on the promise of the SOLiD 4hq. Initial shipments of the 5500xl are planned for December 2010.

"The 5500xl represents a significant leap forward in next-generation sequencing," said Mark Stevenson, chief operating officer for Life Technologies. "We have revolutionized the biggest arsenal in our sequencing portfolio by evolving the instrument and the chemistries to better address the needs of translational researchers. Its unprecedented accuracy and rapid throughput make the 5500xl the ideal sequencing instrument for deciphering the genetic code of cancer, and paving the way for the future development of sequencing technologies for eventual use in clinical settings."

The 5500xl SOLiD Sequencer enables the following:

* High-quality basepair format data - the exact call chemistry (ECC) option enables single-read accuracy better than 99.99 percent. This high-accuracy data is essential for the detection of minor variants in heterogeneous samples, a critical area of importance in cancer research. Further, the data output is in standard base-pair format, allowing easier interface with third party tertiary data analysis tools.

* Rapid and scaleable platform - the 5500xl SOLiD Sequencer utilizes a novel rapid-scan fluorescence detection system and will initially deliver 20 to 30gb/day of DNA sequence. Two high quality human genomes, 24 whole exomes, or 12 whole transcriptomes can be processed in a single run. With high density nano-bead technology, planned for the second half of 2011, the system will deliver 30 to 45gb/day, increasing capacity to three or more genomes per run and enabling higher coverage cancer genome sequencing.

* Run flexibility and running cost - the SOLiD Microfluidic FlowChip allows one to six independent lanes to be run with two FlowChips. For rapid turn-around time a single lane can be completed in one day. The FlowChip uses very low volumes of sequencing reagents, allowing high throughput users to realize an initial cost of as little as US$3,000 per genome.

* Intuitive and ease-of-use interface - the 5500xl is a robust benchtop instrument with an integrated monitor and desktop computer. It contains a robotic reagent delivery system to track usage and provide quality check points across the entire workflow, leaving little room for errors. Real time data processing removes the need for a compute cluster and reduces the data footprint, speeding time to result and simplifying data handling.

Building off of customer feedback, the SOLiD 4hq and SOLiD PI programs were combined to develop a single, robust, easy-to-use platform for all researchers. Current SOLiD 4 System customers will be offered a cost-effective path to step up to the higher throughput 5500xl system. The SOLiD PI system will be replaced by the 5500 SOLiD Sequencer.